Did your child visit a class before you chose a school?

[SomedayMom]

I am starting this process now after doing my online research. I am visiting my family in our new location (move next summer) and I visited my first school today. It was my top choice and I absolutely LOVED it. One of the things suggested was that my son could visit a classroom and spend a morning there so that I could discus the school with him as we make our choice.

Have you done this? How did your child react? Did you find that it was a positive experience?

[MattBronsil]

Does not sound like a bad idea. The only thing I would watch out for is the stress of going to a new place. It might be a fantastic environment and he just feels stressed because it's new, so even with a great environment, the first day can be rough in some situations.

I guess I'm saying if he loves it, great. But don't let a bad first day totally ruin the school for you.

[SomedayMom]

Thanks I think that's what I'm worried about. He often takes a few times to warm up to something new, so I'm not sure how he'd react.

[mamalemon]

We had a one-on-one day with DS and his teacher (no other students) in the classroom. DS responded very well to it. It gave him an opportunity to learn proper materials handling and to get to know his teacher well.

[BabyGow]

We did this and it was great! Also the teacher arranged a "new children" day on the day prior to school starting so the children could learn "the lay of the land" so to speak. Though my son was excited and all for "going to school by himself" He still had a few minutes of anxiety about the new surrounding and Mommy actually leaving. He of course has always been with me so I expected this.
The teacher picked him up and held him until he calmed down and he was fine within a few minutes and was super excited to go back after we left. I liked that part. The fact he wanted to go back made me feel like we really made the right decision

[eepster]

I took DS to visit all the schools I was thinking of sending him too. It was good to know that he really did seem ready for school.

[Koloe]

We didn't visit a class in session, but we did go to the open house and check out the facilities, meet some of the teachers and current parents and DD played with the materials and didn't want to leave. LOL

[Aufilia]

We looked at several schools for DD. We did take her to one class at a school that we really liked, but ended up not picking because of the distance. I went alone to observe a different school (DD was sick or I'd've brought her, but it was obvious to me that we weren't going to pick that one anyhow). The school she's currently enrolled in we visited during summer break so we got to see the classrooms but there were no other kids in class at the time.

With the current school, we did go to open house last week so we did meet the teachers and see some of the other parents and kids, and DD got to run around and play with stuff.

[BCFD]

We looked at 5 or 6 schools before settling on our school and I did take DD along with me. We narrowed it down to 2 schools and both suggested that DD come in for a couple of hours and take part in classroom activities. When we picked our school, it was a pretty informal meet and greet and DD sat in on a class and they assigned her a little girl to work with her on a few jobs. I got a grand tour of all the classrooms, met all the teachers, and the owner/directress really explained Montessori to me (which I pretty much already knew most of what she was telling me thanks to this board and other online research.) The day we toured the school that we chose there just so happened to be a parent night and it blew DP and myself away! All the teachers set up tables of jobs and then a few teachers actually demonstrated the jobs for the parents (they did the bank game and the moveable alphabet if my memory serves me correctly). Then they invited us to tour the job tables that were set up and all the teachers took their "station" behind the table to answer any questions we had. We really got a great opportunity to chat with the teachers for a few hours and get to know them. It was fantastic!

DD wasn't quite sure what was going on during all those tours and was pretty frightened at a few of the schools and clung to me and sobbed, but she also had just had a traumatic experience in a play based preschool a few weeks prior to us touring Montessori schools. She felt most comfortable in the school we chose and the teachers were by far the most nurturing and seemed most in tune to her needs.

[rumsmyname]

We found the classroom meeting a wonderful part of the

decision making process and definitely worthwhile. It gave us an opportunity to better see how the adults interacted with our children. It is an important part.

[ellesmama]

We visited my DDs school about 3 or 4 times before she actually started. We just observed the class that she would be in for about 10 minutes each time. The teacher was so nice about it and it really gave us both a good feel for what it would be like. I knew it was good because each time my DD really wanted to stay and "work".

Now she is two weeks in at that school and really loves it.

I highly recommend visiting, for your sake and for your dcs sake.